Out of Pure Spite

"One would hope that at this point, with Meng home, China would see no further point in threatening to execute [Robert] Schellenberg."

"It would be seen as killing someone out of pure spite."

Donald Clarke, expert on Chinese legal system, George Washington University

 

"I'm pretty sure that Ambassador [Dominic] Barton must have raised the case of Schellenberg."

"[But] I would not be surprised if the Chinese took advantage of the situation to ask a few things from Canada."

Guy Saint-Jacques, (former) Canadian ambassador to China

 

"In the two Michaels' case, Canada had the U.S. as leverage. It didn't have anything else. But for Schellenberg, it doesn't have any leverage. So I don't know what we can do."

"China would expect something in return [for sparing the Canadian's life]. I don't feel we should be offering much in return."

Wei Cui, professor, expert, Chinese legal system, University of British Columbia 

Canadian Robert Schellenberg during his retrial on drug trafficking charges in Dalian, China, January 14, 2019. Photo by Handout/Intermediate Peoples' Court of Dalian/AFP/Getty Images

Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of Huawei and its founder's daughter has now been released by a Canadian court, no longer held for extradition to the United States on a state department warrant for misleading a U.S. bank on Huawei's ties to a company that broke American sanctions against Iran, as a result of an arranged plea bargain where she admitted guilt, but would not face a trial, charges dropped. She is back in China, feted for her courage in luxuriating in one of her Vancouver mansions.

The two Canadians, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor have also been released from their 11-year sentences for 'espionage', arrested and imprisoned the week that Ms.Meng was detained, in a blatant display of Beijing's embrace of 'hostage-diplomacy'. While they were in the custody of the benevolent Chinese prison system for almost three years, the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau did nothing to counter China's belligerent aggression.

PM Trudeau saw his prized aspiration for a trade deal with China evaporate long before this episode in a trip to China where he expected to sign a trade deal, and was summarily dismissed by China's vice-president and sent packing. During the recent Canadian federal election campaign in mid-September, China blatantly interfered with the election, with explicit warnings delivered by China's ambassador to Canada that election of a Conservative-led government would cost Canada dearly.

The Liberal government hesitates to enrage China by taking steps to counter its hostile punishment of Canadians and the Canadian export-to-China market. A decision whether or not to allow Huawei to take part in Canada's 5G upgrade, has been delayed in the wake of Beijing's warnings that Huawei should be a player. Canada, as one of the members of the "Five-Eyes" security/intelligence group comprised of Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and United States is the only member that has yet to exclude Huawei from Canada's networks.

Canada's telecommunications companies have themselves taken the initiative, shunning Huawei materials, opting for international competitors to take its place in their communications networks. The shoe has not yet been dropped. And there are consequences. There are other Canadians in Chinese prisons; Huseyincan Celil, a Chinese-born Uyghur arrested on a trip to Uzbekistan, extradited to China and sentenced on charges of espionage to life in prison.

Another is Robert Schellenberg who appealed his 15-year sentence for drug smuggling only to see the justice authorities summarily change his sentence to execution. Another blow to Canada through abuse of yet another Canadian citizen meant to persuade Canada to see the error of its ways. It doesn't help his case that Schellenberg had a record in Abbotsford, British Columbia as a drug dealer. Formerly an oilsands worker, he spent two years in a Canadian prison for trafficking cocaine and heroin.

He was arrested on a trip to China where he states he was set up by a translator, arrested and prosecuted for involvement in smuggling 200 kilograms of crystal meth to Australia. He appealed his death sentence just as he had appealed his original 15-year-imprisonment sentence, and to no avail; it was upheld on appeal a month ago. He would not be the only Canadian executed under China's drug laws in the past.

And there are three other Canadian citizens facing death for drug offences. The Supreme People's Court  reviews all death sentences prior to being carried out, but the court almost always confirms executions. There is irony here aside from the fact that Beijing has struck out on so many fronts to punish Canada for its arrogance in upholding Western law and justice. 

 

The world outside China is reeling under the onslaught not only of the Wuhan virus, but lab-produced opioids courtesy of China. Fentanyl and Carfentanil are cutting a swath of death-by-overdose, picking up the slack any time SARS-CoV-2 recedes.

Canadian Robert Schellenberg during his retrial on drug trafficking charges in Dalian, China, January 14, 2019. Photo by Handout/Intermediate Peoples' Court of Dalian/AFP/Getty Images

Football Opponents or Racial Adversaries?

"It felt like a hostile environment. The only message I had [for his distraught players] was we need to be better men ... and I asked them to stifle everything they had."

"Their response [game referees] was they were not hearing anything."

"It was at that point [continuing racial epithets] that I decided the game needed to be over."

"We have experienced [racism at games] before, but not to this level or degree. This was very hostile, very unsafe, and the environment was not suitable for competition."

Willie McGinnis, football coach, Roxbury Prep High School Wolves, Rosbury, Massachusetts

 

"I broke down, I watched racism ruin what’s something that was supposed to be good to them, Friday night lights but instead we were ridiculed, called N bombs by players, faculty, staff, spectators and were taunted all night."

"I was approached by police for absolutely no reason. There were reporters wanting to interview us, these same racist people that waited for a reaction. It was all a set up, cruisers and wagons. I’m angry that to this day things like this still happen, feeling powerless in a lose lose situation."

Roxbury assistant football coach Jamaal Hunt

 

"If it’s determined there was any type of criminality relative to that incident I’ll review that with the district attorney’s office."

"I have not seen any video or audio evidence concerning those allegations, but they are certainly not going to be ignored…we’ll interview people who were there, and we welcome anybody with information to provide it to us."

Georgetown Police Chief Donald Cudmore

Screen grab of melee at Georgetown High School football game

"I know a lot of the kids who go to the game, they wouldn't say that word to an African American, and I know [many] of the people in the stands and walking the sidelines, adults ..."

"If they heard any kid saying that to that team, they would have went right up to that kid and grabbed him."

Tim Manning, player parent, Georgetown Middle High School Royals, Georgetown, Massachusetts

"[There are] many different versions of what happened at this game ... swirling around on social media. [School officials and police are investigating.]"

Carol Jacobs, superintendent, Georgetown Public Schools 

 

"We call on the Georgetown district to fully collaborate with us to investigate this incident and to take strong actions to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again."

"Our priority will remain the safety and well-being of our community as we continue to advocate for racial justice, love and respect." 

Roxbury Prep School spokesperson, Roxbury, Massachusetts

 

Last Friday night in Georgetown, Mass., the Roxbury Prep High School Wolves were set to play a game against the Georgetown Middle High School Royals. A football game between two high school football teams, as normal an occurrence as can be imagined in the United States, or for that matter anywhere else. There is, however, a difference between the two schools and thus between the two teams -- in that Georgetown's student body is 93 percent White, and Roxbury Prep students are 97 percent either Black or Latino.

Still Americans, still high school students, still boys studying to be men, enjoying team sports and excelling at both. There was an estimated 450 people present at the field to watch a routine night of  high school football. Those present witnessed a fight break out between the two teams, obviously unsportsmanlike. And then the game was cancelled. Then came the explanation, that the Royals players endured an evening of racial catcalls slung at them by Georgetown players.

In tears, the Black players told their coaches that the "N" word and taunts about looking like apes and monkeys. The Royals coaches spoke to the Georgetown players' coaches, asking them to speak to their players about repeatedly hurling racial slurs at the opposing team. And it appears that the Royals' coaches made no effort to put a halt to the taunting. When first coach McGinnis heard from his players of the racial slurs, he told them to respond "using our pads". Play the game to win.

By the second half of the game the taunts and racial slurs were escalating, the Royals, the Roxbury students kept telling their coach were calling them the N-word repeatedly. A group of fans approached the back of the Wolves bench to interact with players until one of the assistant coaches instructed the crowd to retreat. It was about then that coach McGinnis was treated to the N-word himself. No one 'mishears' that kind of soul-searing language.

That led five men, fathers of Wolves players, to form a protective line around their team. Again coach McGinnis reported the racial slurs to the referees, who heard nothing themselves that might move them to take action. Leading 44-8 by the end of the third quarter, the Royals had succeeded in fully demoralizing the Wolves, when a fight broke out. Which was when the two Georgetown police officers assigned to the event called in for support.

A Royals player had shoved a Wolves team member and another Royals player held the Wolves player. Leading four Wolves players, coach McGinnis and others to rush the field to separate the two sides. The N-word surfaced again. When the police dispersed the crowd, coach McGinnis returned to his sideline, his team deciding to go on playing until two players approached their coach again tearfully, that the racial epithets were continuing.

The Wolves headed off the field, to Royals players chanting the N-word. Superintendent Carol Jacobs was at the game but heard no racial slurs. Her intention is to bring in an independent investigator. 

From left, Roxbury Prep parents Larry Fisher, Deborah Manago, and Missy Brown look on as Roxbury Prep hosts Millis at West Roxbury High on Sept. 24, a week after a skirmish broke out late in Georgetown High's game against Roxbury Prep. Roxbury Prep alleges racial slurs prompted the fight.   Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

Chinese Diplomacy

"It has long been a fully proven fact that this is an incident of political persecution against a Chinese citizen, an act designed to hobble Chinese high-tech companies."

"The so-called 'fraud' charges against Ms.Meng Wanzhou are purely fabricated."

"Canada should draw lessons and act according to its own interests."

"General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions."

Hua Chunying, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson 

 

"The U.S. government concocted the incident to repress Chinese high-tech companies and obstruct China's development."

"[Meng's arrest was the culmination of a] dirty [U.S. game to destroy Huawei.] Over the past two years and more the U.S. wasted no time in suppressing Huawei, cooking up disinformation to smear Huawei and coercing its allies to boycott Huawei."

China's ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu

Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou landed back in China on Saturday morning after a B.C. court dropped her extradition case following a plea agreement with the United States. CBC

 

So there, Canada, smarten up! Beijing does not appreciate upstart nations interfering in its smooth sailing. To act on a request by a neighbouring country with which you have an extradition agreement, as is common between neighbours and allies in democratic alliances, and by the act of apprehending the chief financial officer of Huawei Technology, China's communications giant, was a very unwise decision. You have it direct from the horse's...er Communist Party of China's mouth.

China is celebrating Ms.Meng's release from her injudicious and cruel detention, languishing in one of her two Vancouver mansions, out on bail, escorted and protected whenever she goes out on a shopping expedition. Wearing an ankle bracelet that looks quite chic with her designer garments. Passing the time with her husband, taking up pleasant distractions like calligraphy, painting, corresponding with friends and supporters, and shopping, shopping, shopping. Truly an ordeal.

Days after her apprehension in December of 2018 two Canadians on business in China were summarily arrested and a year later charged with espionage. The reasoning being that if Canada feels it is justified in detaining a very important Chinese citizen, daughter of the founder of Huawei no less, Beijing feels justified in incarcerating under harsh conditions befitting the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, businessman Michael Spavor and diplomat Michael Kovrig. 

And while Ms.Meng had high-priced lawyers arguing her case in a Vancouver courtroom and to the media at large, exonerating her from any purported wrong-doing the two Michaels were denied lawyers and only sporadically permitted Canadian consular assistance. Held for close to three years on spurious charges, undergoing interminable interrogation sessions, occupying solitary jail cells where the light is never turned off, sentenced to fifteen years of their lives in prison.

But never discount diplomacy and the capacity of two nations at a competitive tension-war to finally accommodate one another by each agreeing to sacrifice a principle. For China the losing-face principle, for the United States, something very similar sourced from an unseemly jostling for advantage in a cut-throat world of upsmanship and prestige and market control.

Is everybody happy? Meng Wanzhou is feted in China as a 'survivor' of cruel Western imperialist skulduggery. Beijing boasts of its uncompromising stance of national dignity; no one, no government, no human-rights group may sling arrows at its performance as a world-class bully, swallowing Tibet, threatening Taiwan, yanking democracy out from under Hong Kong's unique status, imprisoning Uyghurs, imposing its ownership on airspace and contested geographies with Japan, India, Philippines, Vietnam.

And Beijing, with concrete verification that threats and intimidation and 'wolf' diplomacy are the characteristics that have proven hugely successful for it, will now carry on while plumbing the abysmal depths of dictatorial officiousness, proven to work marvellously well; ultimatums designed to make other nations cower, and when they fail to, smoothly engaging in self-righteous propaganda assuring the Chinese public that all is well with their world, Beijing and the CCP is in charge...

 

Return to Canada of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig

"I think now that we've got the two Michaels back it's time for us to stop pussyfooting around, it's time for us to make a clear statement about where we stand in the region."

"And we can't condone a number of other things China is doing. The violation of their own international commitments to respect the autonomy of Hong Kong, systematic cultural genocide of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, increasing drumbeats of war on the Taiwan Strait, these are all completely unacceptable geopolitically and from Canadian values perspective."

"So we have to position ourselves on the right side of history on these issues."

"There has traditionally been a lack of consensus within the Canadian foreign policy establishment as to whether it's better to try to engage China and accommodate China, or basically stand firmer on principles when Canadian principles and values conflict with Chinese principles and values and Chinese foreign policy goals. I think it's time to get beyond that."

David Welch, professor of political science, University of Waterloo

Tremblors and Volcanic Eruptions: Devastation, La Palma

"We have a flow to the north that is moving quickly ... this lava comes from more interior areas of the crater and its temperature is about 1,250 degrees."

Miguel Angel Moreuende, director, volcano response committee, La Palma 

"The ash cloud originating from the volcanic eruption makes it necessary to maintain the temporary stoppage of flights to La Palma..."

"The flights scheduled for today have been cancelled."

Aena, Spain's airport operator

 

"Activity is picking up again. The volcano has been producing intermittent explosions with ash emissions from the new cone, at intervals of roughly every 10 minutes."

Update Mon 27 Sep 2021 12:07

"To put the eruption into perspective, the newly lava-covered surface of 221 hectares (2,21 sq km) corresponds to 0,3 percent of the island's total surface of 708 sq km."

"It is interesting to look at the volume of lava erupted so far: if an average thickness of the lava flows of 10 m is assumed and the total surface covered is 212 hectares (=100x100=10,000 sq meters), the volume is approx. 10x2,120,000 or roughly 20 million cubic meters."
"This does not include the volume of the cone and the erupted ash, but likely the latter are much smaller than the volume of the lava flows and can be neglected. In any case, the volume of erupted material is in the same order of size as the previously modeled magma volume estimate that had been intruded during the earthquake swarm (also around 20 or more million cubic meters)."
"If these figures are correct (which is far from certain), the eruption indeed might have exhausted the available magma, but the near future will certainly tell."

VolcanoDiscovery

The Cumbre Vieja volcano spews lava, ash and smoke as seen from Los Llanos de Aridane on the Canary island of La Palma in Sept. 26, 202 (Photo by DESIREE MARTIN/AFP via Getty Images)

A week after the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma erupted, the airport has been re-opened, but all flights in or out have been cancelled. The volcano continues to spout lava, emitting ash clouds over the area surrounding it, forcing people to cover themselves with umbrellas to keep from being entirely plastered with thick falling volcanic ash. "They laugh at us because of the umbrella, but if we don't use it, we end up covered in ash", explained Waldo Nasco, an engineer.

Two active lava flows are now in action, one is a swiftly-flowing mass to the north, the other a slower one flowing to the south. Drone footage capturing photographs for Reuters shows a rapid, wide stream of red hot lava down the crater's slopes, inching its way past homes with swaths of land and buildings entirely engulfed by the black mass of languidly moving, older lava.

In Todoque, the village church which had narrowly missed being engulfed in lava days earlier when lava stopped just short of it, was destroyed on Sunday, the bell tower crumpling under the weight of the flow. Director of the island's volcano response committee, Morcuende, declared that those people who had been evacuated from three towns under the volcano would now be safe to return to their homes; they are the fortunate ones whose homes are still standing.

People swept away volcanic ash from outside the environs of the church of Colegio Sagrada Familia de Nazaret, after mass on Sunday. Pope Francis, during his weekly blessing in St.Peter's Square, sent a message of "closeness and solidarity" to those affected on La Palma. 

 

A new explosive phase took place on Friday, as the uncertainty of when the eruptions would cease and the Cumbre Vieja volcano would return to its normally quiescent state consumed the minds of the 83,000 population of the island in the Canary Islands group.

Ash emission this morning, September 27 (image: Eva Kubelková)

The Enduring Deterrent Effect of Amputations and Public Executions

Taliban leader Mullah Nooruddin Turabi AP

"Everyone criticized us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments." 

"No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Qur'an."

"Cutting off of hands is very necessary for security [deterrent effect. The Cabinet is studying whether to do punishments in public and will] develop a policy."

"[The Taliban would allow television, mobile phones, photos and video] because this is the necessity of the people, and we are serious about it."

"[The Taliban views the media as a way to spread their message.] Now we know instead of reaching just hundreds, we can reach millions."

"We had complete safety in every part of the country [in the late 1990s of their previous rule]."

Taliban co-founder, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi

The Taliban swiftly grasped control of Afghanistan amid the withdrawal of U.S troops from the country last month. There are continuing signs the Taliban's hardline views and tactics are not a thing of the past. (West Asia News Agency/Reuters)

 

"It’s not a good thing to see these people being shamed in public, but it stops the criminals because when people see it, they think ‘I don’t want that to be me'."

Amaan, Kabul store owner

 

"In our Sharia it's clear, for those who have sex and are unmarried, whether it's a girl or a boy, the punishment is 100 lashes in public."

:But for anyone who's married, they have to be stoned to death..."

"For those who steal: if it's proved, then his hand should be cut off."

Taliban judge in Balkh, Haji Badruddin

The genteel reassurance has been revealed for what it was, a purely temporary ruse to persuade the outside world that the Taliban are really responsible caretakers of Afghanistan. Not what the media in the West make them out to be; fanatical Islamist fundamentalists following sharia to the letter of its laws as they interpret them; no shades of grey, rigidly black-and-white: guilty as charged renders an accused vulnerable to amputation or public execution.

 

The Taliban view corporal punishment as educational devices; a warning to any others who might conceivably be contemplating criminal offences, anathema in the considered opinion of the pious Islamists who honour Islam and the Prophet Mohammad by closely following sacred instructions on managing lawbreakers by extracting painful punishments of permanent disfigurements (lopping off ears and noses), amputations (complete disablement), or surrender of life itself.

 

It has started. Once again capital punishment for social crimes is meted out; kidnapping meriting death, the body hung in a public square hanging off a crane. For lesser crimes public humiliation will do; steal bread because you're hungry and bread will be stuffed in your mouth, and you paraded as a criminal-thief displayed on the back of a truck as it drives down busy streets, drawing the attention of shoppers, business people, idlers and burqa-clad women. Citizens are required to witness, to take note, to understand this could be their fate should they dare to bring offence.

 

People look up at a dead body hung by the Taliban from a crane — not shown in this image — in the main square of the city of Herat, in western Afghanistan, on Saturday. (The Associated Press)

 

As yet the governing council of the Taliban is undecided whether public executions will take place in public. As an entertainment with a message 'Do not emulate the forbidden actions of these criminal elements among you. See how they pay the price for their actions!' And when executions are in the offing the public is informed and advised that attendance is not optional. Unless they can be trusted to view at a distance via social media; a new and improved innovation; marrying modern technology to ancient barbaric rituals.

 

Nooruddin Turabi, a Taliban co-founder known for formulating and administering the rules of deterrence in the first iteration of the governing Taliban, and now a venerable 60 years of age, has been reappointed to the vital role of overseeing the vice and virtues of the people of Afghanistan. Morality is a subject of great moment to this government. It must be upheld as the pinnacle of Islamic values, instructing all of the expectations incumbent upon them as proud citizens of an ancient country. 

 

There have been reports of women's rights being brutally restricted   Reuters

 

City streets will once again be patrolled by the morality police, and dress infractions by women will be instantly met with appropriate punishment; the public humiliation of public beatings. The lesson driven home, if need be, that it is better, much, much better for one's peace of mind, much less reputation to be honoured as a modest woman in full compliance with Islamist custom and sharia law, to be fully encased in stifling dark fabric, peering at the world through a narrow slit, taking care no inch of bare skin can be seen by helplessly lascivious men.

No more music, no more dancing, no more drama classes, or parties. None of which do honour to Islam. Men and women must not be seen in close proximity; women should ideally be accompanied by male family members, never speaking to men, nor looking directly at them without betraying their wantonness. Requiring due correction. The greater tolerance of social mores not in concert with Islamist principles hinted at previously have been reconsidered.

 

Men's beards must be fully visible, not snipped short and they too must dress themselves modestly. However, this new Taliban reiteration is not destined to completely re-enact previous restrictions where girls may not under any circumstances attend school or exit their homes, as long as the sexes are completely separated some concessions may apply in educating girls. The expansion of the previous edicts that only females may administer medical services to females has been expanded to include women judges sitting in judgement of other women.

The more tolerant Taliban will now permit television, cellphones and media. "This is the necessity of the people, and we are serious about it. Now we know instead of reaching just hundreds,we can reach millions". The Taliban has exited the dark ages....

 

On September 8, 2021, journalists Nemat Naqdi (left) and Taqi Daryabi were tortured and beaten by Taliban fighters for reporting on women’s rights.

MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES

 

Submarines: to go Nuclear or Not?

"Canada's ability to exert influence in its vast maritime domain will be tested as the demand for resources and northern sea access increases in the coming decades. [Canada needs replacement submarines for its fleet of four diesel-electric aging submarine fleet, in recognition of countries like Russia and China's aggressiveness and the] relative decline [of the United States]."

"It wasn't that long ago that the only option for that [submarines capable of operating in and under ice in the Arctic] was to consider nuclear propulsion. [Now technology is sufficiently advanced to allow] a broader conversation about other options."

"[The U.S. is in decline] due to competing internal and external pressures including fleet overstretch, divided domestic institutions, quasi-isolationism, trade protectionism, and the return of great power rivalries for the first time in 80 years [placing more pressure on American allies]."

"With China and Russia building up their respective nuclear and non-nuclear submarine fleets, it will become harder for Canada to ignore the need to maintain its submarine capability."

Macdonald-Laurier Institute paper

 

"We need to move forward with a viable program to replace the current capability. And what that looks like, I don't know, but it starts by having what I would characterize as a mature, open and transparent conversation."

"[Complex procurements like this can take 12 to 15 years that] gives us one to two years to really get this project properly initiated and oriented."

"Defence expenditures in Canada are always subject to significant criticism [but even those who won't like the idea can be receptive] when the conversation is well informed."

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, Canadian Navy

"Getting out of the sub business would mean that our friends and allies would take Canada even less seriously in defence matters than they do now."

"[It would also] effectively cede operational control over our coastal and Arctic waters to others, [both allies and enemies]."

Kim Nossal, professor emeritus, international relations, Queen's University

Canada purchased four Victoria-class submarines, including HMCS Corner Brook, from Britain in the late 1990s.

Canada has four aged and aging submarines in its fleet. These are submarines; the HMCS Chicoutimi, HMCS Corner Brook, HMCS Windsor and HMCS Victoria bought second-hand from Britain when it decided to focus on replacing its fleet with nuclear submarines and placed its diesel-engine fleet in mothballs. Canada bought them second-hand for $750 million in 1998 under the Chretien Liberal-led government. They were a headache from first delivery, having been mothballed and left to rust for five years in Britain. Repairing dents, rust, leaks, and fire-damage cost Canada infinitely more for its bargain-basement investment.

The succeeding Conservative-led government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper mused about replacing the four submarines with a nuclear fleet, but typically knew that such an expenditure would not sit well with the Canadian public, and shelved an idea whose time had come. Since then, the need to replace the fleet has only grown more urgent. The situation is not unknown to Canada's allies in NATO, where the country has failed to live up to NATO's requirement that member-countries expend an average of 4% of GDP on military preparedness. Canada's expenditure is under 1.3%

HMCS Windsor, one of Canada's four Victoria-class long range patrol submarines, in Halifax port in 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

The current federal government has allocated up to $10 billion to modernize and maintain its current submarine fleet, an allocation whose initiatives sees "serious questions remain" whether Canada will be ready with replacements by the time the fleet is decommissioned at some time between 2035 and 2042. Which may "not appear to be a particularly urgent timeline", commented Vice-Admiral Norman, who wrote the foreword on the report pointing out that complex procurements take years to effect.

The recent furor of the agreement between the United States, Great Britain and Australia to supply Australia with nuclear plans with a view to acquiring a nuclear fleet and cancelling its contract with France to build such a fleet, serves to place a focus on Canada's laid-back attitude to its own maritime defence at a time when Russia is claiming territorial waters in areas contested by Canada, and China is building an Arctic-capable fleet of its own. AUKUS has offended France, with the cancelled contract valued at $60 billion from its publicly-owned shipyard.

Canada's need for submarines capable of operating in and under the ice is paramount. The Royal Canadian Navy created a team beginning the process of current fleet replacement in July; all such ventures in Canada move at glacial speed, reflecting the relative disinterest of the government of the day focusing or failing to, on a theme likely to result in an "extremely controversial debate" over the necessity of Canada acquiring them to begin with, in the public mind. 

The current submarine fleet has spent more time undergoing maintenance and repairs dry-docked than it has operationally, requiring billions resulting from multiple problems with the submarines, from their delivery to the present. Even a British Member of Parliament expressed  his amazement that Canada would agree to purchase the aged, decommissioned British submarines, stating they were in a parlous state before delivery and Canada had made an extremely poor decision in acquiring them. As the old British maxim goes: 'penny-wise and pound-foolish'.

A 2003 estimate placed cost of four new submarines between $3 and $5 billion; "we can easily expect that 20-year-old estimate to be higher", pointed out the report. Not quite in the vicinity of Australia's projected $60-billion cost for its planned nuclear fleet, but substantially more than the now-modest cost of yesteryear. Canada requires those submarines for surveillance and intelligence, building alliances and deterring opponents, alongside monitoring Canadian waters. The report pointed out Russia's submarines are active in the Arctic and North Atlantic to an extent not seen since the Cold War era.

The fire damaged HMCS Chicoutimi, one of the Canadian military's four submarines, arriving at the Victoria Shipyards from Halifax in 2009.  Photograph By BRUCE STOTESBURY, Times Colonist

 

"And That's Shameful" Einsatzkommando 10a

This photo taken from a the body of a dead German officer who was killed in Russia shows a German firing squad shooting Soviet-Jewish civilians in the back as they sit beside a mass grave in the Babi Yar ravine on the outskirts of Kiev.  AP

"Oberlander found comfort and freedom in Canada. His victims were denied the right of life, of family of happiness, of children and grandchildren -- all of which Oberlander celebrated in abundance."

"It is a sad day not because he died, but because Canada has been exposed in terms of allowing men and women like Oberlander to come to this country, live here in peace and never face justice. And that's shameful."

"He very successfully played a very poor Canadian immigration system -- and won."

"Every government, it doesn't matter if it was Conservative government or Liberal government throughout the postwar period, has blame on this file, as does the very poor Canadian justice system."

Bernie Farber, CEO, Canadian Anti-Hate Network

"The peaceful demise of Helmut Oberlander on Canadian soil is a stain on our national conscience. The fact is that this country slammed its doors on Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis, then allowed some of their tormentors into Canada and failed to deport them."

Michael Mostyn, CEO, B'nai Brith Canada

"The delays in these cases were unconscionable. The result was justice for victims of the crime addressed in these cases was denied."

David Matas, senior legal counsel, B'nai Brith Canada

 

"Canada's war record on first admitting Nazi war criminals and then failing to properly investigate and then deport them is a national shame."

"While victims of the Holocaust were brutally murdered, Nazi war criminals mostly died peacefully in this country."

"Many have literally gotten away with murder."

Avi Abraham Benlolo, chairman, Abraham Global Peace Initiative, Toronto

After the mass murder of 33,771 Jews at Babyn Yar, Ukraine, September 1941 (public domain)

 

Helmut Oberlander, a resident of Canada since he and his wife applied for immigration in 1952, held permanent residence status from 1954 forward, becoming a citizen of Canada in 1960. On his immigration application he failed to disclose his status as a former German soldier in World War II, knowing that this would invalidate his application. Legally, he had no right to Canadian citizenship. A false declaration on an immigration application, evidence of participation in war crimes would make him inadmissible.

He was an ethnic German living in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, when it was invaded by Nazi forces. He was conscripted and assigned work as a translator for Einsatzkommando 10a (Ik10a), a special police task force operating in occupied territory. His claim to innocence rests in his arguing that he was a teen at the time of his conscription, and that he never personally took part in the killings conducted by the death squad he was associated with. Merely an innocent observer. 

There is the philosophical observation that an observer is a participant merely by being at the scene of an atrocity. And that observing while working as an enabler as a translator, the claim of innocence is in and of itself an utter absurdity. He was actively engaged with the killing squads whose purpose was to act as roving killers in uniform armed with deadly weapons seeking out vulnerable victims whom local populations were less than loathe to identify and on occasion more than willing to help in their eradication. They too were/are guilty of crimes against humanity.

When I was a child I recall the horrors of whispered agonies of my parents and their friends over the unspeakable atrocities taking place in Nazi Germany. There were underground pamphlets passed around detailing news of massacres and cattle cars and transports, and work camps and concentration camps and death camps ... the scale of which would be revealed to the world at large in good order. I remember my parents speaking in hushed, disbelieving voices with their friends, post Holocaust of someone they know walking along Bloor Street in Toronto and suddenly confronting a guard from Auschwitz.

Photo Courtesy B'nai Brith Canada

"Helmut Oberlander has passed away peacefully. In the end, he was surrounded by loved ones in his home."

"Notwithstanding the challenges in his life, he remained strong in his faith. He took comfort in his family and the support of many in his community. He gave generously to charity, supported his church and was a loving family man. He will be dearly missed."

Oberlander family statement

 

My parents came to Canada in the pre-war years. My father, an orphan living on the streets of Warsaw was sent to Canada by a philanthropic Polish society of Jews, to work as an indentured farmhand until such time as his passage was paid off and he was free to become a free man, albeit younger then than Oberlander. My mother and her sister came as young girls after their parents were murdered in the Pale of Settlement by a mob of White Russians. They worked in garment factories to repay distant relatives in the U.S. who had paid for their passage to Canada. 

During the war years entrance to Jews facing annihilation in Europe was closed off. Canada had all the Jews it would tolerate. They would have to find haven elsewhere. Japan, though part of the Axis, helped some Jews escape Europe into China. Canada turned away desperate Jewish refugees sailing on the German passenger vessel,  the St.Louis looking for haven abroad. It was not to be.

 

It was, in fact, former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney who was convinced by Jewish human-rights lobbyists that Canada had a moral and human-right responsibility to identify and either prosecute or surrender German Nazi war criminals settled as good citizens in Canada, back to Germany to stand trial there for their participation in war crimes where they could inform a court 'nicht schuldig". Being part of a "mobile killing unit" is a criminal offence and a war crime.

Helmut Oberlander, a retired businessman of 97, is dead in Waterloo, Ontario. It was 35 years ago that a commission set  up to find and prosecute Canadians born in Germany, who had Nazi affiliation in the Third Reich, that Helmut Oberlander became its first target. During those 35 years he used every legal opportunity available to him to defend himself in court, to counter charges, to appeal to higher authorities to overturn judgements not in his favour. Anything to avoid deportation.

Oberlander's citizenship was revoked in 2001 in 2007 in 2012. The final time, in 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada would not hear his appeal of the last revocation of his citizenship, accepting the reality that because of fraudulently entering the country, citizenship was invalid. Which would enable his deportation. But there were always more avenues of appeal. The final judgement was in the works, with the Immigration and Refugee Board adjudicator prepared to rule on his motion of dismissal. No need now.

 

The Rot Within

"Our analysis demonstrated that Canadian RWE [right-wing extremists] communities identified in this study engage in a range of harmful behaviours."

"This includes potentially illegal activity such as the incitement and glorification of violence and explicit hate speech."

"In particular, the communities studied in this report appear to act as hubs for disinformation and conspiracy theories, including content relating to the COVID-19 pandemic."

Institute for Strategic Dialogue, London report

 

"[Thousands of people are joining pandemic conspiracy movements through social media, so when doctors and public figures spread false online information] it lends conspiracy theory promoters an air of credibility."

"In some way, shape or form similar stuff like that is happening all across Canada,. It just seems like more of it is happening in Alberta now." 

"it's a very dangerous combination of things happening right now. In an environment like that, all it takes is one unstable person to try to act out the violent fantasies of the group."

Evan Balgord, executive director, Canadian Anti-Hate Network research group 

A video widely circulated online this week shows Dr. Gary Davidson, an emergency medicine physician at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, accusing the government of waiting for a drop in admittance numbers to trigger a lockdown to enable it to take credit in swift action. (Kyle Green/The Associated Press)

 

The Province of Alberta stands out as the most COVID-vulnerable poster child in Canada struggling in vain to check the surge of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta strain that has been overwhelming countries the world over in its viral contagiousness. Hospitals are overwhelmed, case counts are soaring, 'elective' surgeries are once again being cancelled, death numbers increasing. The premier of the province is in a quandary, having to backtrack on opening the province too soon, now once again re-imposing a lockdown, and with it a move to COVID passports, infuriating the population.

Unable to cope with its ICUs crowded with patients and shortages, the province sent out an appeal to other provinces for help. Those that were able to oblige are receiving air-lifted COVID patients requiring emergency hospital care that Alberta hospitals are unable to service. Neighbouring Saskatchewan was one province that was unable to open its ICU doors to Alberta patients. It too is overwhelmed with COVID patients. In Alberta the influx of patients invariably reflects unvaccinated people.

Resistance by anti-vaxxers in Alberta is endemic by a wide margin in comparison to other provinces, and more prominent in outlying areas. These are people hugely resistant to the very idea that medical science is on the right track in advising populations how best to protect themselves from the virus. These are the people convinced that government is trying to control their every thought, to take away any vestiges of personal agency and independence. And they are supported by groups that feed on this unstable paranoia.

 

On social media all manner of theories abound, posing as knowledge-based solutions, from the use of horse de-wormer medications as a 'cure' for COVID, to other bizarre remedies that sometimes land people in hospital. Suspicion of government motivations is rampant. Doctors pressured by some of their patients, provide them with vaccine-exemption letters on health grounds, from enabling patients to bypass wearing masks in public to arguing that medical conditions preclude inoculation.

The Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons is preparing to publish a letter addressed to its physician-members and the public at large, reiterating its support for vaccines and public health requirements in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. Doctors identified by the College as spreading misinformation on social media platforms have been warned that their behaviour may impact the credibility of their profession and may in fact lead to suspension of their medical practise certification.

With the highest number of unvaccinated people in the country, the spread of misinformation continues to harm the public even as case numbers explode. Sources such as not only doctors but other public workers and well-known figures including police officers, firefighters and others weigh in on their beliefs contrary to government authorities and medical community experts. One popular country singer reported to his large following that people recovered from COVID are immune thereafter to the virus.

A report out of London by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think tank that monitors disinformation spoke of online communication channels associated with white supremacy and racism having seen exponential growth during the pandemic. 

Alberta on Tuesday reported 29 additional COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 2,574 people. Photo by IAN KUCERAK / Postmedia

 "It's incredibly disappointing to see your profession do things that are so harmful to others."

"We're in pretty unprecedented times. There are always events where the odd physician may say or do things that are counter to traditional pratices of medicine, but not to this degree, not to this scale."

"This is just the minority of people in the profession that are creating a problem, but that minority is having a huge impact."

"Physicians do have a very powerful voice in society and people listen to it."

"I would recommend that whoever is listening to those physicians also listen to some of the other evidence that's out there with an open mind."

"Unfortunately, we see a lot of confirmation bias where people want to believe the science that they're hearing, instead of critically appraising that science." 

"[The college had an emergency meeting and] counsel made it very clear that we need to be aggressive in dealing with [doctors spreading misinformation]."

Scott McLeod, registrar, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta

Diplomatic Sensitivies Bruised All Around

"[The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have embarked on a folly] severely damaging regional peace and stability, intensifying an arms race, and damaging international nuclear non-proliferation efforts."

"China always believes that any regional mechanism should conform to the trend of peace and development of the times and help enhance mutual trust and cooperation..."

"It should not target any third party or undermine its interests."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, Beijing

 

"Now that we have created AUKUS we expect to accelerate the development of other advanced defence systems including in cyber, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and undersea capabilities."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson

 

"This brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision reminds me a lot of what Mr. Trump used to do. I am angry and bitter."

"This isn't done between allies."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian

 

"We all recognize the imperative of ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific over the long term."

"We need to be able to address both the current strategic environment in the region, and how it may evolve because the future of each of our nations and indeed the world depends on a free and open Indo-Pacific enduring and flourishing in the decades ahead."

U.S. President Joe Biden

 

Of the Five Eyes Intelligence group left out of this arrangement between the three ranking members, New Zealand and Canada have remained mute on the issue. They were no less than France taken by surprise at a move that left them stranded. France's outrage is of an entirely different dimension; it stands, through this arrangement, to lose a lucrative contract signed with Australia to produce a nuclear submarine program for Australia.

It is beyond laughable as the very height of sophistry for Beijing to declare itself offended at the impolite behaviour of the three allies, considering itself -- and rightly so, and very well earned -- the ultimate target of the move. It immediately inveighed against the dangerously unscrupulous pact that produced AUKUS to provide Australia with technology and capability for the deployment of nuclear-powered submarines, when it has been itself building a powerful, large and advanced naval fleet to rival that of the sole world power with the largest military on the planet -- the U.S.

Facts do get in the way of Beijing's shocked condemnation, since it is itself responsible for the alarm and foreboding felt by its neighbours as a result of the ruling Chinese Communist Party's belligerent aggression toward contested territory claimed by its neighbours but dominated by China. All the metrics of advanced technology aligned with military hardware have been used by China to threaten its neighbours and by extension its Western adversaries, alarmed at Beijing's new militarism.

 

For France, the AUKUS arrangement is a betrayal brutal and unpredictable. Insofar as it has lost a valued contract, and a lot of face in the process. Its allies drove an armed vehicle up its private alleyway and detonated it to France's consternation; this is not the least bit collegial. Traditionally on the edge of suspicion and challenge, France and Britain are both allies and competitor-adversaries. The pact, claimed Prime Minister Johnson, would reduce the costs of Britain's next generation of nuclear submarines. 

Pity that French shipbuilder Naval Group has been left out in the cold, mourning its loss of a $60 billion agreement to build a new submarine fleet for Australia, replacing its elderly submarine fleet. France now upbraids the Biden administration for 'stabbing it in the back'. Allies simply do not behave like this. Except that ... they do on occasion. Canada metaphorically shrugs and diplomatically screens its level of consternation. New Zealand has declared that Australia's nuclear-powered submarines are not to be permitted entry to its territorial waters.

 

Australia announced a nuclear-powered submarine deal with the US and UK on Wednesday, abandoning an agreement previously brokered with France. Credit: Shutterstock

 

"At the level of process, the mishandling of consultations with the French over the sub deal marks the third occasion in the last eight months in which the Biden administration appears to have committed an unforced error vis-à-vis alliance relations. The other two are the apparent lack of operational coordination with allies over the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the anger in Central and Eastern Europe over Washington’s willingness to accommodate Germany on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. For an administration that came into office preaching the importance of allies, these three instances paint a disconcerting picture of a team that either doesn’t prioritize relations with some close allies like France or cannot run an effective policy-formulation process that balances competing interests. Certainly, the lack of confirmed appointees at the departments of State and Defense matters to some degree here, yet these unforced errors occurred despite the fact that the president’s team is in place at the National Security Council. In order to convey the notion that the president won’t tolerate any more missteps with America’s closest allies—and to genuinely fix whatever isn’t working within the National Security Council (NSC)—the White House should reallocate responsibilities, juggle titles, and/or create a special assistant position in the NSC for coordination of allied efforts vis-à-vis Moscow and Beijing."

Dr. John R. Deni is a research professor at the US Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.